Is China catching up to the US and SpaceX on reusable rockets?Fri, 25 Sep 2026 12:00:00 +0000 The next space race is not about making rockets faster, bigger or more capacious, but about reusing them reliably and cheaply. The US is well ahead, but can China catch up? | |
Anthropic’s discovery will, at best, be just another gene-editing toolFri, 25 Sep 2026 11:04:53 +0000 The AI company Anthropic has announced that its Claude large language model has discovered a system reminiscent of CRISPR, but that doesn’t mean the Nobel prizes will start rolling in, says Michael Le Page | |
Mathematician discovers rare eight-faced shapeFri, 25 Sep 2026 09:00:00 +0000 It isn't easy to demonstrate that a new geometric shape can actually exist in the real world, but one researcher argues that the genus-3 polyhedron can | |
The first season of Heroes is almost perfect – here’s whyFri, 25 Sep 2026 09:00:00 +0000 Starring the late Hayden Panettiere as the self-regenerating cheerleader who could save the world, science-fiction series Heroes first aired 20 years ago today. It might have gone downhill in subsequent seasons, but its first is still brilliant, says TV columnist Bethan Ackerley | |
Copying others can help young orangutans build a broad dietThu, 24 Sep 2026 18:00:00 +0000 Orangutans spend more than eight years learning how to cope on their own, and now we have a clearer idea of how they work out which foods to incorporate into their diet | |
Dogs pay more attention to consonants than vowels when we speakThu, 24 Sep 2026 18:00:00 +0000 Hooking up dogs to non-invasive EEG monitors has helped identify exactly which component of human speech the animals are most attuned to | |
Backpack massages muscles when it detects they’re fatiguedThu, 24 Sep 2026 15:00:00 +0000 A backpack consisting of electrodes, cables and a soft massage head kneads muscles in the back when it picks up on them being fatigued | |
Taking HRT in perimenopause may ward off cardiovascular diseaseThu, 24 Sep 2026 14:00:00 +0000 Hormone replacement therapies may reduce the risk of heart attacks and stroke, but the timing of when they are started could be critical | |
Skin patch that collects sweat could predict ovulationThu, 24 Sep 2026 13:00:00 +0000 A patch that measures levels of two reproductive hormones in sweat has shown promise for predicting ovulation in a small study | |
Benedict Cumberbatch’s nature show is stunning, if a little cloyingThu, 24 Sep 2026 13:00:00 +0000 The actor urges us to work with nature, not against it, in new documentary How to Live on Earth. Let's hope it can make a real difference, says Alec Luhn | |